Solubility of argon in water + alcohol systems

Abstract

The solubility of argon has been measured in water + ethanol, and in water + t-butanol mixtures, over the whole range of their concentrations and at several temperatures between 4°C and 62°C. The thermodynamic functions ΔH^⊖ and ΔS^⊖ were calculated for the solution process, and used to elucidate the effects of these alcohols on the structure of water. The effect of methanol is also compared, using data from the literature. These effects are related to the size of the alkyl group in the alcohol molecule. From the results a quantitative estimate is made of the relative amounts of hydrogen-bonded structures in water over the temperature range studied.